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Kate Bingham

Michael Berkeley鈥檚 guest is the former head of the vaccine taskforce, Dame Kate Bingham. With Holst, Puccini, Marcello and Schumann.

On 8 December 2020, a 90-year-old grandmother became the first person in the world to be given the Covid jab as part of a mass vaccination programme. Within six months more than 30 million people in the UK had received at least one dose. Many people say that extraordinary achievement would not have been possible without Dame Kate Bingham. A venture capitalist with a first-class degree in biochemistry, in May 2020 she was asked by the Prime Minister to head a new Vaccine Taskforce, leading British efforts to find and manufacture a Covid-19 vaccine for the UK and abroad. Her appointment was not without controversy. But, in the words of Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, who invented the AstraZeneca vaccine, 鈥渉er calm decisions in the uncertain early days of the pandemic saved countless lives鈥. Kate Bingham was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in the Queen鈥檚 2021 Birthday Honours List.

In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Kate Bingham reveals what it was like to create the Taskforce, working remotely from home in Wales. It was her first encounter with the inner workings of government, a culture she describes as paralysed by 鈥済roupthink鈥, and 鈥渁 massive aversion to risk鈥. She reveals the music that sustained her, and which she listened to at night when she ran. Kate is an oboist, and she begins her music selection with Alessandro Marcello鈥檚 Oboe Concerto; other choices include Gustav Holst, Robert Schumann, Arturo Marquez, Guys and Dolls, and a song with lyrics by her son Sam.

Produced by Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Media production for 成人快手 Radio 3

Available now

41 minutes

Last on

Sun 20 Feb 2022 12:00

Music Played

  • Alessandro Marcello

    Oboe Concerto in D minor (2nd mvt: Adagio)

    Performer: Albrecht Mayer. Ensemble: New Seasons Ensemble.
  • Frank Loesser

    Guys and Dolls

    Performer: Cast.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    Tosca (Act 1 Finale)

    Singer: Bryn Terfel. Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
  • Eliza Randall

    Echolocation

    Lyricist: Sam Norman. Performer: Mason McDowell.
  • Gustav Holst

    Jupiter (The Planets)

    Orchestra: The National Youth Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
  • Robert Schumann

    Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op.47 (3rd mvt: Andante cantabile)

    Performer: Thomas Riebl. Ensemble: The Florestan Trio.
  • Arturo M谩rquez

    Danzon no.2

    Orchestra: Sim贸n Bol铆var Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.

Broadcast

  • Sun 20 Feb 2022 12:00

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